Kobe Bryant chides a fan on Twitter for using the word ‘gay’ as an insult

When Kobe Bryant joined Twitter earlier this year, one of the more intriguing subplots about his time on the social media site was the way he would approach his interactions with fans, critics, or anyone that just bothered to put “@kobebryant” in a 140-character missive. Would he reply at all? Would Kobe reply endlessly to dozens of followers, only to delete the replies to clear his feed? Would he send dismissive direct messages back to the followers, knowing that they couldn’t DM back? Or would he pick and choose, smartly.

Immediately everyone’s thoughts went to an ugly April of 2011 incident that saw Bryant referring to referee Bennie Adams as a derogatory term for homosexuals, preceded by that most unprintable of curse words. We rightfully teed off on Bryant following the incident, and the NBA hit Kobe with a massive $100k fine. Was Bryant right to go after that follower (that, in the hours since, completely unrepentant and unreadable follower) for working up a less profane version of what he used to toss out? Well, yeah. Let’s let Bryant, in a Twitter response later that night to someone who didn’t like the perceived hypocrisy, take over.

@onepercentofone @pookeo9 exactly! That wasn't cool and was ignorant on my part. I own it and learn from it and expect the same from others